Knaphill broken by Bone double as Fleet come out on top
FLEET Town inflicted a rare defeat on the Combined Counties League Premier South’s second-placed club Knaphill on Saturday, beating them 3-0.
The best of the early chances fell to Fleet. In only the second minute Fleet opened up Knaphill with a fine move, starting with Tommy Whitby on the left wing. As he advanced he played the ball to Jubril Hasan in the middle who fed it out right to Dan Bone. He drove into the box and shot towards the bottom right corner of the goal, but Knaphill keeper Jos Barker got down to turn the ball round the post for a corner.
Fleet Town were soon on the attack again – the forward ball reached Mihail Marinescu deep in the corner, who danced his way past several Knaphill defenders into the box and laid the ball back on a plate for Tommy Whitby, who managed to sky his shot over from six yards out.
After about a quarter of an hour Knaphill started creating chances of their own, coming close from a Jake Hawker free kick curled into the box, finding its way through and hit the post.
Filip Chalupniczak, making his debut in the Fleet goal, pulled off a fine double stop to deny Knaphill in a very solid first game for the Blues.
Into added time at the end of the first half, Knaphill struck the post again, this time from a fierce shot from just inside the box, before running behind to safety and a goal kick for Fleet. The game reached the interval at 0-0.
The second half was only a minute old when Matt Surmon created the first chance of the half, his shot being saved down low by Jos Barker.
Knaphill continued to look dangerous, playing a cross in from the left wing. The waiting players could not reach the ball as it drifted close to the goal and Fleet escaped again as the mis-hit cross hit the post and stayed in play for Fleet to clear.
Chalupniczak was soon in action again as he was forced into making two saves in quick succession.
On the hour Fleet had a throw in from a dangerous position after a panicked clearance in the corner by Knaphill, the ball was turned on in the box and shot at goal was dropped by the Knaphill keeper at the feet of Bone, who turned and forced the ball in from close range, to give Fleet Town the lead.
Only eight minutes later, Mihail Marinescu collected the ball near halfway and drove forward before sliding the ball out to Bone on the left, he cut in and fired the ball home for his and Fleet’s second of the afternoon.
Ten minutes from the end, Tommy Whitby came close to adding another when he noticed the Knaphill keeper out of his goal and lobbed the ball over him from 30 yards, but the ball came down on the roof of the net.
Into added time and another long run from Mihail Marinescu with the ball ended when he went down in the box, with everyone expecting a penalty. The referee instead booked Marinescu.
Marinescu had the last word a couple of minutes later when he was through again and shot in off the underside of the bar to make it 3-0 and complete a wonderful afternoon for Fleet and condemn Knaphill to their equal heaviest defeat of the season. Only Farnham had previously inflicted a 3-0 score against them early in the season.
The Shots nearly opened the scoring just after the 70-minute mark, as Tyler Frost found a way into the box and cut the ball back for Barrett, but his effort was saved by Rory Watson. Another throw of the dice came in the 81st minute as Hady Ghandour replaced Lorent Tolaj in a like for like change up front. Moments after the Shots were nearly ahead in emphatic fashion, as a bouncing ball fell to Josh Barrett, and an acrobatic effort went just over the bar. In added time York found the winner, and much like he did in the game at the EBB Stadium Linell John-Lewis scored late into the game, getting onto the end of a Callum Howe header at the back post. The Shots now turn attention to Saturday’s clash against Solihull Moors.